Gentrification

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Paul McMorrow writes about gentrification in Union Square. He notes that with the arrival of the Green Line, it will be much more desirable to live in. This will cause an increase in demand for housing there, and that there are two choices: Allow enough additional housing to be built to prevent prices from rising insanely, or preserve its "character" (appearance) at the cost of pricing out just about everybody who already lives there.

"Desirable, inexpensive, low-density -- choose any two!"

Comments

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

Those people who are lucky enough to live in Davis Square and only in the last decade or so, may not know what it is like to live in a less desirable non gentrified neighborhood. After picking up the umpteenth Burger King bag litter from the street, hearing loud car noises go by, worrying about my family's safety etc, I started to think gentrification is an OK thing. Your outlook changes when things are no longer theoretical.

[ron_newman]

As far as I can tell, litter is a universal problem, caused mostly by uncovered trash bins combined with wind. I see it just as much in gentrified areas as in low-income neighborhoods.

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

In my experience in East Somerville, it was caused by human beings choosing to litter, and it ended when a few buildings were sold and the bad actors were "forced out" So gentrification helped us. Which is not to say that all low income people litter or have bad behavior (I don't) but there is a stronger correlation in lower income neighborhoods. If there was a way to surgically reform the bad actors, I'd be for that. But I absolutely am relieved that I don't have to spend my Saturdays anymore filling up literally 7 of those black contractor trash bags full of the litter on my street.

[sjcap.livejournal.com]

A few years ago, we did an informal trash barrel census on Lower Broadway and in Union Square. Not only total numbers, but also average step distance to a barrel. Basically, how far do you have to walk with that popsicle stick in your hand to drop it into a barrel? The results were staggering. I don't have all of that data at hand right now. But barrels that were steps away in Union, would be 2 blocks away on Lower Broadway. So it was somewhat of a Eureka! moment re the East Somerville trash problems. If you map it out, you will see that there are simply very few barrels to deposit trash in East Somerville relative to other districts. Alderman Roche got several added, but still a lot were held back due to the Broadway reconstruction in progress. When that is finished Lower Broadway is supposed to be on par with everywhere else.

[littlecitynames.livejournal.com]

I'm always astonished at how few trash bins there are in Somerville in general. When I was in NYC I didn't walk more than a block without the chance to throw away my trash, but here I have to plan ahead and keep track of where the bins are.

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Well, Somerville is a lot poorer than NYC, and if you're visiting NYC, you're spending a lot more of your time in business and tourist areas.

But there's a subtle class effect, too. "that popsicle stick" -- above a certain class level, you're not allowed to eat things on the street. Indeed, as you get richer, you live less of your life on the street, and so you generate less trash on the street. If you're rich enough, you exit the building's door, cross the side walk, and enter the chauffeured vehicle... not much opportunity to litter there!

And homeowners are generally a lot more sensitive to the appearance of their property and their neighbors' properties than are renters, because it directly affects the value of their most valuable asset.

[riverrealm.livejournal.com]

e.g. "Since I'm not rich enough to go inside anywhere to eat this hyper-packaged food, and I don't have a chaffeur, I will throw all the packaging and leftover food in the gutter. But, since I'm not rich enough, my choice should be condoned, or else you're a classist who probably has a chaffeur, because that's the only way a responsible adult can avoid choosing to litter."

Or, "I don't care about the condition of my neighborhood because I'm a renter, therefore my littering should be condoned, or else you're a classist."

[littlecitynames.livejournal.com]

I lived in NYC and even the non-business-and-tourist areas had trash cans every block or two. I remember being annoyed when I moved somewhere in Brooklyn where I had to walk four whole blocks between trash cans. In Somerville, even Broadway has very few trash cans, let alone the smaller streets. Only the squares and parks have any real presence of trash cans.